Funding for speciality metals plant

A £1.5m grant award from Yorkshire Forward will help Metalysis gear up to develop a semi-continuous plant to produce titanium and tantalum powders for worldwide markets.

A £1.5m grant award from Yorkshire Forward will help Metalysis gear up to develop a semi-continuous plant to produce titanium and tantalum powders for worldwide markets, creating 90 jobs in the South Yorkshire region in the process.

This latest tranche of cash from the Regional Development Agency, under its Grant for Business Investment scheme, supplements previous Inward Investment Grant funding from 2006.

The new jobs, which are a condition of the funding, range from research scientists and process development engineers to production operatives and sales staff.

‘We have overcome some difficult challenges to prove our FFC process technology,’ said Mark Bertolini, chief executive of Metalysis. ‘On the way, we have adjusted our commercial priorities and more closely identified priority niche markets around the globe. Now, with Yorkshire Forward among those who are investing in our technology and our workforce, we can move on to produce commercial-grade titanium and tantalum products profitably, in sufficient quantities and at competitive costs.’

During the last five years, Metalysis has raised £19m in venture capital and a further £4.8m in grants. From a workforce of three in 2005, the business now employs 50 people in science and engineering, scale-up and commercial development operations.

Metalysis holds 24 patent families, filed in 88 countries.

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